


Deviations

by Emeraldthorns



Series: Deviations [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, F/M, Major Original Character(s), Mycroft-centric, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-27
Updated: 2014-01-22
Packaged: 2017-12-06 15:29:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/737246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emeraldthorns/pseuds/Emeraldthorns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mycroft has a lunchtime routine, one that he has kept for over a year. One day, a girl changes it, and it's safe to say that Mycroft will never be the same. But are the changes for better...or for worse. Slight Johnlock in the background, but won't be mentioned much in the story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Having Lunch

Every weekday, at 12:15, Mycroft Holmes left the office. He walked five blocks to a very well-known diner. He walked in, sat at his usual table, and ordered a coffee and a plate of fish and chips. To be perfectly honest, he had no idea why he still came here. While it was truly well-known, and visited by many, it wasn’t the high class place most thought he would spend his time at. It was a slightly run down place, but it had been around for the better part of fifty years, so it was something like a family restaurant.

Mycroft had found the food wasn’t terrible, but it was always crowded. People chattered loudly with friends, while he sat alone in the back of the diner at a small booth. He read while waiting for his food to arrive, and then he ate in silence. Once finished, he would pay for his meal, and go back to work.

He had had this routine for about a year. It wasn’t particularly enjoyable, but it was his routine, and he stuck with it. He declined offers from his colleagues to go out to lunch with them. He refused to stay at work through lunch. He did not deviate from his solitary lunch routine. It was lonely, but he didn’t mind. Or at the very least he had convinced himself he didn’t mind. He didn’t mind walking to the diner alone, sitting alone, eating alone, and going back to his office alone. While people around him were socializing, bonding with others, Mycroft was alone.

That is, until someone changed the routine.

~

It was a Monday, early September, and relatively chilly out. Mycroft, as usual, was walked into the Diner. He sat as his usual seat, and ordered his usual meal. And while he read, and waited for his food, something unusual happened.

“Excuse me, sir,” she said, hesitantly. Mycroft looked up from his book.

A girl, rather short in height with long black hair, obviously a university student, carrying a heavy looking bag on her shoulder, gave him a nervous smile.

“What can I do for you?” Mycroft asked politely.

“It’s just,” she paused a bit, as if not wanting to speak but finally gave in, “this diner is more crowded than I expected it would be and there are no seats available and I was wondering, if you aren’t waiting for someone, and if it wouldn’t be too much of a bother, if I could perhaps sit here.”

There was a bit of stuttering on her part, and Mycroft was a bit conflicted. Surely it would be easy to tell her that he was meeting someone. It would also be rather easy to tell her to bugger off, but that wasn’t polite, and she was a young lady. If Mycroft’s mother had taught him anything at all, it was to be polite to women. Mycroft quickly weighed his options before deciding, if a bit reluctantly, to allow her to sit with him.

He nodded at her and gave a polite smile. She seemed grateful and quickly sat down, setting her bag beside her. The waitress came by with Mycroft’s food and asked the girl if she would like to order anything.

The girl requested, on a separate check, a plate of fish and chips, and a glass of water. The waitress nodded and left to fetch her order.

The girl opened her bag and pulled out a laptop, starting it up. She did not speak, much to Mycroft’s enjoyment. She simply started typing away at her laptop. Mycroft ate, shooting her glances for the first few minutes before eventually going back to his book.

The girl’s typing fell into the background, and he almost forgot she was even there. Not quite though, because something felt a bit different with her there He couldn’t pinpoint what that change was though, so he dismissed it. Soon he finished eating, gathered his belongs, paid his check, and left. He left, and as he did whatever had changed shifted back so that he felt no different than any other day of his life. He barely thought of that girl again for the rest of his day, except, if he were honest with himself, once as he was preparing for bed. As he lay down, he wondered if he would see her again the next day.

~

She did, in fact, come by the diner the next day. Again, she nervously asked to join him. He, again, though with less thought and reluctance this time, agreed. They didn’t speak anymore past that. They ate, he read, and she typed on her laptop. The change inside him returned.

She, somehow, very quickly became part of his routine, and by that Friday, there was no thought or reluctance in allowing her to sit with him. By the next Monday, she didn’t even ask, and he didn’t notice.

Well, he did notice, but not until later as he returned to work. He wasn’t upset by the realization, it had only even occurred to him as an afterthought, which had followed the realization that he hadn’t heard her speak that day. For some reason, that caused change inside him, one that lasted throughout the day. He ignored it for the most part, but it was there.

The next day, as she came in and sat across from him, as usual, he greeted her with a polite, “Good afternoon.” She responded in kind. They spoke no more that day. The greeting to her became a part of his routine as well. It never went further than a simply, “Good afternoon,” on either side of the conversation. This routine lasted nearly two weeks.

Then, as suddenly as all the other changes, something new happened.

She had gotten her food a few minutes before, and they were silently eating when she looked over at him.

“What’s your name?” She asked out of the blue. He looked up, a bit surprised by the suddenness of the question. She quickly became nervous, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just we’ve been eating together for nearly a month and it’s just occurred to me that I don’t know your name.”

Mycroft smiled reassuringly, “Its fine, my name’s Mycroft.” He responded. “And yours?”

“Amanda,” She replied.

Their conversation went no further, but the change in Mycroft that he had become accustomed to seemed to strengthen. It strengthened to the point where, though he couldn’t tell exactly what it was, he could tell it had something to do with his emotions. Though, like every other day, the feeling went away as he left the diner.

The next Monday there was a slight deviation in the routine, once again. Instead of simply saying, “Good afternoon,” as Amanda joined him, he greeted her with, “Good afternoon, Amanda.” It wasn’t a large deviation, but it was a deviation none the less.

The next day brought with it a deviation to routine that was bigger than any deviation thus far. Amanda seemed relatively cheery as she sat down and greeted Mycroft. Mycroft, instead of falling back into silence, decided to make a bit of small talk.

“How are you fairing today?” He asked. She seemed a bit startled by his question but smiled.

“Fine, thanks, and yourself?” She asked.

“About the same,” he responded. That was all that was said until he departed, though this time he departed by saying, “Goodbye, and have a nice day.”

The next day followed in much the same manner. It wasn’t until Friday when another deviation from the routine occurred. It start with the usual greetings, nothing said past the inquiries about the other’s day  until after her food came, at which point, Mycroft decided that starting a conversation would not be too much of a bad idea.

“May I ask you something?” He inquired after taking her first few bites. She looked up curiously and nodded. “What, if it’s not too personal, have you been working on, on your laptop?”

“Oh, just my thesis paper,” she responded cheerfully. Mycroft raised an eyebrow.

“You seem rather cheery to be working on a thesis paper.” He stated. She chuckled.

“I can’t help being cheery about something I love,” she explained. He smiled.

“So are you studying to obtain a Master Degree?” He asked. She nodded. “In what area?”

“Forensic science,” she informed. He smiled a bit. Sherlock’s face flashed in his mind, though he quickly shook off the thought.

They talked a bit more about it, discussing what she planned to do with the degree and what her paper was about. They seemed almost lost in the conversation when Mycroft suddenly realized he’d finished his food, and should probably be heading back to the office.

He bid her good day and she smiled at him as he left.

For the rest of the day, while doing tedious paperwork, Mycroft found that his mind often drifted to the mental image of her smile as she waved goodbye.

~

That Friday, after she sat down and they greeted each other, instead of starting her laptop, she asked him a question.

“What do you do for a living,” she asked, her eyes looking at her hands as she twiddled her thumbs.

“I work for the government,” he responded nonchalantly.

“Doing what?” She pressed a bit. He found himself a bit surprised at her question, since he’d come to the conclusion that she didn’t like asking questions much.

He gave, as he usually did to those who asked, his usual mostly-true-but- somewhat-misleading response, “law enforcement.”

“Ah,” was the only response she gave. He was a bit disappointed, having somewhat hoped she’d continue talking but shrugged off the feeling.  His food came and as usual she ordered. An idea sprang into Mycroft’s mind.

“Do you plan to order fish and chips every day?” He asked after the waitress left.

She shrugged. “Probably, I’m not one for changing routines.”

He wanted to laugh at that, wondering if she had realized how much she changed his.

“Well, if that’s the case, then I could very easily order for you after I give my order, so that it would likely be nearly done by the time you arrive.”  He hadn’t been sure if he truly wanted to suggest it, but he felt somewhat compelled to at least ask.

She seemed surprised by his offer, “I…suppose that would be nice, if it wasn’t too much of a bother for you that is.” He smiled.

“Not at all.”

She then pulled out her laptop, which had been previously ignored, and booted it up. She began to type and Mycroft decided to consider his feelings from the past month or so.

It had started with the odd change, a change that only existed when with her, according to the best of his memory. It wasn’t a very big change, it wasn’t a feeling of love or affection…it was something else. He thought about what could have changed as a result of her presence, and it took him the better part of ten minutes to realize he had been thinking along the wrong tracks. He hadn’t started feeling anything. The change was something he had stopped feeling, something he didn’t often notice he was there. When he was around her, he stopped feeling so lonely.

Not completely, mind you. A strange girl in a diner could only affect Mycroft’s emotions so much. But that change had been getting bigger as time went on. The more he sat with her, spoke with her; he felt it more and more. Mycroft was, sadly, often rather lonely. He had acquaintances, of course, and colleagues; he also had Sherlock, who, though he loathed admitting it, he cared about. He didn’t often feel lonely at all when with Sherlock, or his mum, but he hadn’t seen either of them for at least four months, not that he didn’t have eyes on both.

He supposed the lack of loneliness was simply harder to pinpoint with Amanda though, because it was not a total lack. It was subtle, growing less so by the day. There were other emotions at play as well. He had come to enjoy his lunches with her, and when he left he felt a bit anxious for the next day. He found himself wishing to spend more time with her.

Mycroft prided himself in not being a complete idiot. He could tell when he was attracted to someone. Though he hadn’t yet decided on whether he wanted to act on self-awareness. He couldn’t tell if she returned the feelings, at least not yet, and even if she did, the age difference worried Mycroft a bit. Even if she was attracted to him a bit at some point, she could lose interest, or want someone younger.

Mycroft didn’t often form romantic relationships because it often involved being close and trusting people, which was rather difficult for him. That mixed with the amount of information he had access to could let him easily invade the privacy of his love interest, and when said interest found out about his access to such information, they weren’t pleased. Not that he’d ever done such a thing, but past girlfriends tended to think the worst of him.

“You seem rather lost in thought,” Amanda said suddenly, looking at him curiously. He suddenly realized that he had been thinking about his feelings and how Amanda affected them for quite a bit of time.

“My apologies, was I ignoring you?” He asked, concerned she had been trying to say something.

 “Only for a few seconds,” she responded, “I was asking if you mostly just did desk work or if you were a DI or something of the like.”

Mycroft considered the question for a bit, “I suppose I’m somewhere between the two.”

She seemed confused by his answer but shrugged. She had gotten her food while Mycroft had been lost in thought, and he was just about done with his food.

“So what were you thinking about?” She asked rather casually. He considered lying to her, but thought better of it.

“Would you like to go out with me?” He asked in lieu of an answer.

Her eyes went wide. “On a date?” She asked, disbelief evident in her voice. Mycroft, not wanting to let her surprise discourage him, nodded.

She seemed to consider his request for a moment before smiling. “Alright,” she replied.

They exchanged cell phone numbers before he announced that he regretfully had to leave.

He ran over the conversation in his mind after he arrived home from work, before deciding to send her a text, it was short and to the point.

_How about dinner Saturday? – MH_

He didn’t get a response until just before he went to bed. If he was being honest, he would admit that the length of time it took her to respond worried him a bit. When she did respond, though, it was nearly as short as his. Consisting only of her address followed by ‘ _pick me up at 8 – AG_ ’.

It struck him, after a moment’s contemplation, that neither of them knew each other’s last name. He shrugged it off, deciding he could enquire about it on their date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This doesn't really matter a lot, as far as the basis for this story is concerned, but John and Sherlock haven't met yet.  
> This takes place around A Study in Pink (kind of), except its just Sherlock working that case...  
> I plan on writing a Johnlock piece in the near future that takes place within this same universe.


	2. Having Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amanda's POV on the start of their relationship plus a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took almost a year to update...date's are a bad area for me. I kinda tweeked information from the last chapter as well.

Amanda Gallant, a 26 year old student studying to obtain a Masters in Forensic Science, arrived home at 11 at night to nothing waiting for her but a text message on the phone she forgot to bring with her that day. It was from Mycroft, the man who until that day had seemed to have no interest in her. It was short and she replied to it as quickly as possible.

From the first time she laid eyes on him, she found him a bit upsetting. Not so much because of anything offensive about him but more because he was sitting in her spot. She’d never seen him at the diner before, and had almost asked Tammy, her usual waitress who he was.

Amanda had been having lunch at the diner for nearly 6 years. As a university student, the Diner had been close enough to her school that it took less than fifteen minutes to get to from her classes. She had made sure to keep the same slot of time open for lunch everyday each semester. In all honesty it was a lot of work to go through for an average meal at a low price, especially considering the places much closer to her school, but she had a routine, and she would stick to it.

After she had obtained her Bachelors Degree she had started to work on getting her Masters. Now, in her last year studying at the university she had to readjust her schedule to include spending more time at St. Bart’s for researching her thesis.  She had set up a schedule to do research at St. Barts in the mornings and then go to classes in the afternoon. It had put a bit of a strain on her lunch routine, since Bart’s was much farther and she had to leave a bit later.

Her 11:00 to 12:20 lunch break shifted to a 12:20 to 1:45 lunch break, with her usually making it to the diner around 12:40. It had upset her but she figured nothing to big would come of it. She had been wrong.

Her first thought upon seeing him in her spot was that he should not be there. Then, realizing that she couldn’t really blame him for taking up an available seat, she looked around for another open seat. There weren’t any. Amanda, not wishing to deviate anymore for her set routine, took a deep breath and walked over the man at her usual table.

In most situations, she wouldn’t have asked to sit with a person, she wouldn’t have bothered, but her lunch routine was what kept her sane most of the time, no matter what happened at school of with her parents, or with her friends, she always had her lunch time routine, and she would be damned before some stiff office worker took it from her. Thankfully he had let her sit.

She had hoped it was a onetime thing, but he was there the next day as well, and the next day. It wasn’t until Thursday that she had accepted that he was simply a constant presence that she would need to get used to. The next Monday she completely forgot to ask to sit with him, realizing it a minute too late and kicking herself for the rest of her lunch. He hadn’t seemed to mind though.

A full month later and she wondered how she could have gone from being his rather reluctant lunch partner, to enjoying his company. She had admitted to herself a week before that she fancied him, but had decided to do nothing about it. Then, completely out of the blue, he had asked her out.

She spent about an hour fretting to herself after sending the message before giving up and going to sleep.

The next morning she was awoke by her phones text alert sound.  She grabbed her phone and read the message in a tired haze, quickly realizing it was from Molly Hooper. Reading the message she started to become more and more frustrated getting dressed quickly while also trying to send off a message.

_Please please please do not let him have it. He’s gotten the last three already – AG_

_If he gets to it he gets to it, I can’t really interfere. – MH_

She huffed angrily before sending off another message.

_No, you cannot have him. I swear if you take my body I will snap your arm in half. – AG_

A minute later she phone chimed alerting her to a response. _Your body? It’s not like your name is on it. – SH_

Amanda rushed to St. Bart’s. She called Molly while on her way to request that she bring the new body they got in over to her usual work station. Finally arriving and slightly rushing to her work station, thanking Molly as she saw a beautiful recently dead body.

She was able to get a minute of prep work in before the doors slammed open.

“That’s mine.” A deep voice said. Amanda raised an eyebrow at the obviously displeased man.

“Really? Your name isn’t on it.” She responded, smirking. Sherlock’s eyes held nothing but contempt for her.

Sherlock Holmes was a brilliant man, and, in truth, Amanda admired his brilliance. That said, he was also too quick to pass off others as idiots that he need not waste his time with. He also believed that his research was a million times more important than hers and therefore felt entitled to every body that entered the morgue.

“I needed that to test how the bruises develop post mortem. It would solve the case I’m working on faster than anything else.” He waved his hand as he said so, which was holding what seemed to be a riding crop.

Amanda shrugged, “guess you’ll just have to wait for someone else to die.”

Sherlock left the room, assumedly to go complain to Molly. It wouldn’t make a difference, she got to it first. Molly came by a couple minutes later.

“He used to work here,” she said in reference to the body, “I knew him. He was nice.”

Amanda acknowledged her statement with a slight nod, not letting it distract her from her work.

“I suppose nothing I do will convince you to give the body up.” Molly said, looking a bit defeated.

“Nope, sorry.” Amanda replied. “Should tell him to just go home, he’s been here every day for the past two weeks. He needs a life…he needs a girlfriend.”

Molly chuckled. Amanda was aware of Molly’s “secret” crush on Sherlock. It made her a bit upset seeing him ignore her so much. Then again, maybe she wasn’t his type…she wouldn’t know. In all the time she’d known him, she’d never known him to be attracted to anyone. She shrugged it off, it wasn’t really her business, but she did worry about Molly getting hurt.

“Any weekend plans?” Amanda asked Molly after a few moments of silence.

“Nope,” Molly sighed, “Just me and my telly. How about you?” Amanda was about to say the same but the remembered her scheduled date.

“Shit, I nearly forgot.” She exclaimed. She had been so worked up about getting the body she’d completely forgotten. “I have a date.”

Molly smiled, “That’s great. With the man from the diner I assume?” Amanda blushed a bit, nodding. “Well good, you deserve to have someone; you’ve been alone as long as I’ve known you.”

“What about you? You deserve someone too.” Amanda said. Molly shrugged.

“You should called me and tell me all the juicy details so I can live through you.” Molly joked. Amanda laughed and nodded in confirmation.

They conversed a bit more before Molly went back to her work and left Amanda to hers. Once finished she cleaned up and put everything in its rightful place. As she left she passed Mike Stamford who stopped her. He was with a blond man with a cane who seemed a bit out of his comfort zone.

“Is Sherlock here?” Mike asked. Amanda gave a shrug,

“If he is he would be up in the lab, but he’s might have gone home by now. You’d be better off texting him.” She said. Mike nodded and he and the man with him continued on their path to the lab to check anyway.

Once out she went back to her flat and started mentally preparing herself for that night. Most days she spent alone, without many friends in London and not much will to make any new ones, she had lived a relatively solitary life since starting college.

That suited her very well though; she preferred to focus on school work. She did have some friends, Molly for instance, but she was solitary by nature and therefore didn’t spend much time with them. Thinking about her upcoming date was making her anxious. She could hardly remember the last time she’d gone out on a date. She wasn’t that great with relationships, and she often found spending large amounts of time with a single person a bit stressful. That being said, she couldn’t deny that she was attracted to Mycroft.

He was mostly quiet, didn’t seem to need to fill every moment with chatter. He also had a sophisticated air about him that was like no one she’d ever met. He seemed nice, though they hadn’t really talked a lot. He seemed like someone she could fall in love with. Though she hadn’t liked him from the start, she had warmed up to him over their lunches together.

By 7:30 that night she was very anxious. She stressed over what to wear for an hour before finally settling on a not too showy, not too tight, and just above knee length, black dress. She hadn’t messaged Mycroft since the night before, and it was starting to get to her. He could have forgotten. He could have changed his mind and decided not to go out.

She could text him to make sure but that could come off as clingy. So instead, she waited. She stared at the clock, messed with her hair a bit, made sure her makeup was alright, and tried to calm herself down. Her worrying was for nothing. As soon as the clock struck eight her doorbell rang.

~

Amanda stared down at the table as she fiddled with her napkin. She had run out of things to say about five minutes after Mycroft picked her up and now they sat in silence. Not even companionable silence, it was the silence of a date going wrong.

After picking her up, Mycroft had driven her to a nice French restaurant. After they obtained menus they viewed them for about five minutes before Amanda’s obviously troubled face led Mycroft to suggest he order for her, she gladly accepted the offer. Now, with wine and waiting for their food, which Amanda couldn’t even guess because he ordered in French, the sat in silence.

Amanda was very much aware of Mycroft and his actions on the other side of the table. Every so often, he would take a sip of his wine, and three times he had looked at his phone. He had mentioned when the date started that work kept him very busy and every now and then he may need to respond to a text or email. He didn’t seem to be nearly as uncomfortable as her though. She tried to think of something to say, but it had been so long since she was on a date, she really couldn’t remember what people usually talked about on them. Eventually, Mycroft broke the silence.

“I have been meaning to ask, what is your last name?” He asked. She looked up at him, seeing genuine curiosity there.

“Gallant,” she answered, “what’s yours?” She hadn’t actually thought of it before, but it was probably something one should know about the people they date.

“Holmes,” he responded nonchalantly. Amanda’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Any relation to Sherlock Holmes?” she asked, trying not to grit her teeth, not wanting to come off as upset by a mere name.

“Yes, in fact, he’s my younger brother. Are you acquainted with him then?” He looked a bit concerned. Like he thought her view of his brother would affect her view of him. In truth it probably would if she hadn’t been around Mycroft long enough to realize that Mycroft has very little in common with his brother.

“Yes, sadly,” she sighed, remembering her small spat with him earlier. “Probably best to avoid him as a topic of conversation.”

Mycroft chuckled, “well so long as you are aware that my brother and I have nothing in common.”

“Promise?” She asked teasingly. Mycroft simply nodded, as there food arrived. She was a bit grateful, since the topic of his brother had come to an end and she wasn’t too eager to return to the silence.

Amanda’s worries were for nothing though, as they finally settled into a steady rhythm of conversation. They spoke of his family and hers, and where they grew up. Amanda disliked sounding cliché, but talking with him, time seemed to fly. They soon finished there meal and both decided to pass on dessert.

After dinner, instead of him taking her home, he suggested they walk for a bit, and Amanda was glad for it. While the date had had a rocky start, the rest had easily made up for it. They had only gotten a block, and only two sentences into what could only be described as future blackmail information to use against one Sherlock Holmes, when Mycroft’s phone rang.

Mycroft sighed, quietly apologizing as he answered the call. “Hello...No, I told you specifically to wait for a response…I don’t care if you thought it was a good idea at the time….you must be joking….no, no, don’t tough anything. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Mycroft’s voice never really rose beyond normal speaking level, and his tone remained calm, but Amanda could easily tell he was angered by whoever had messed up on the other end. Mycroft hung up, and at least looked apologetic as he stated he’d have to take her home.

The drive home was quiet, though at least Mycroft finished the story about Sherlock. He promised her that any mention of it would shut him up for at least ten minutes. He walked her to her door, and she wasn’t really sure if this was a date that should end in a kiss or not.

Before she could become too conflicted though, Mycroft decided for her. He leaned down, pressing his lips lightly to hers, and she easily responded, smiling at the chemistry between them as proven by a good kiss. She had missed this part of dating. The part where she felt right with another person because kissing them made her feel connected to them. She wouldn’t call it fireworks, or even sparks, just an instinctual sense of rightness.

He pulled away, bid her adieu and drove off. She finally entered her flat, smiling to herself. She sat on her couch for a few moments before pulling out her phone and ringing Molly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who gave kudo's and commented...especially the one person who's comment recently made me feel really bad for not updating...I'm sorry for being a horrible human being who doesn't update her stories in a timely fashion. OTL
> 
> Also please alert me to any mistakes you happen to find.


End file.
